3 THE KEDGE ANCHOR Issue 47—Spring 2017 FROM THE EDITOR Please note the next edition is due in Autumn 2017. The deadline for copy will therefore be 21 September 2017. Your editor will be pleased to receive your ideas and contributions at an early date. platform to facilitate Royal Navy recruitment. The aim will be to appoint a Director whose brief will be to ensure that the organisation becomes financially self-sufficient in three years. To provide 25 Wooden World Workshops to state schools for students at Key Stages 2 and 3. With this evolution comes a greater responsibility and during recent months your Council has also been working on all aspects of corporate governance. This will be highlighted at the AGM and Members’ day on Saturday 13 May alongside the details of the business plan behind this fantastic development. We are meeting once again at The East India Club, St James’s Square and I thank Stephen Howarth for looking after the administrative arrangements with the Club. I am also delighted that this year’s Cecil Isaacson memorial Lecture is being given by Gareth Glover. It is entitled, The War in the Mediterranean 1793-1815 & the birth of Modern Combined Operations. Notwithstanding the momentous news about the Libor grant the timing of its announcement is tinged with sadness by the death of June Jeffries late last year and the more recent and sudden deaths of Dr Nick Slope and Martyn Heighton. June was well known to all those who had the pleasure of attending the Club’s memorable Trafalgar Dinners at Newhouse. A wonderful host, warm-hearted and generous, she treated us like family and welcomed us into her home allowing us to do whatever we wished. A slight and diminutive woman, she had a big presence. It is no surprise that over 200 attended her funeral. Nick Slope was a former chairman of The Nelson Society and a distinguished and much respected archaeologist and naval historian who worked happily alongside The 1805 Club an especially as part of the Official Nelson Commemorations Committee preparing for the Trafalgar bicentenary in 2005. Martyn Heigthton was arguably the leading light of the maritime heritage community and chairman of National Historic Ships (NHS), the organisation established by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to encourage the awareness and preservation of historic vessels in Britain. Martyn transformed a tiny organisation - the NHS - into a successful catalyst for ship preservation through successive grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and by establishing a comprehensive Historic Ships’ Register. Martyn set a fine example for what The 1805 Club has to do now: make the best use of our victory. This leads me nicely to highlight the letter in this issue from the Club’s new Chaplain, Lynda Sebbage. She is keen to extend pastoral care to the membership and this underlines one of the most important features of The 1805 Club, which the Libor grant will not change - our warm and friendly atmosphere and the pleasure we know this brings to our members. With all good wishes, Yours aye, It is pleasing for an editor when articles are received from the membership who have a particular field of expertise, coupled with a deep understanding and knowledge of their subject. When a number are offered it is quite special; and one I am sure the membership are equally delighted to read as it is to present them. In this issue, we have an erudite account of Admiral James de Saumarez in the Baltic by Dr Tim Voelcker an international scholar who has earned a fine reputation for his knowledge of Saumarez. Here he runs parallel with Captain Christer Hägg RSwN rtd to answer points raised about Saumarez in issues 45 and 46 of The Kedge Anchor. The article is accompanied by some fine illustrations. All which give a greater understanding of a relatively little understood and researched figure. Christer Hägg in return has produced another fine paper based on a remarkable countryman Lieutenant Otto Gustaf Nordenskjold of the Royal Swedish Navy and his extraordinary duel service of three years in the Royal Navy. It is a delight to read of different nationalities who took their professionalism from the roots of the Royal Navy and went on to high office to serve their own country. It is here I have to apologise to Christer for the promised sixty second interview to the membership detailing his many achievements. Owing to the pressure of time this as had to be held over to the autumn issue. It is in no particular order I include Captain John Wills RN rtd for a remarkable visit to the past, so much so before Nelson joined the navy at the tender age of 12years John joined a remarkable school or it seems now a naval academy at the age of a little more than eight years. Stroud School founded in Highwood House was the home built by Nelson’s nephew, Rear Admiral William Benjamin Suckling near Romsey, Hampshire. Other articles including Ride the Trafalgar Way and a delightful piece from Willard Dunlap A Joyful Story from the North American Station I believe we have again achieved a fine edition of The Kedge Anchor. Due to the high costs of all the Club’s publications which to say the least seems so unlikely despite the news of the Libor Grant it was decided by council to return to a full in-house publication. There are very strict rules in place over the way the monies are spent from the fund. Combined with a detailed first approach to the Chancellors' Office meant extra funding for publications was ruled out. However the Club hopes it can reapply for a lesser amount after a period of three years. I wish to thank AMA DataSet Limited for their valued work over the last seven issues in particular Simon Mather and Christine Beatty. They set the standard for the issue we see today. It is hoped the Club can continue using their vast expertise within the publishing field. Kenneth Flemming.
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